Scrubber soap



Patented Aug. 28, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE.

CROSBY FIELD, OF BROOKLYN, `NEW' YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 BRILLO MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

' SCRUBBER SOAP.

Application led October 8,1925. Serial No. 61,189.

My present invention contemplates a cake ofl soap, preferably of the kind ordinarily used for scrubbing, dish washing, etc., having embedded in the cake'` preferably by casting, a wad or mass of soft metal ribbons or threads, for which purpose I preferl soft metals suh as copper or aluminum or nickel and also various soft metal alloys as, for instance, the softer kinds of brass, bronze,

I0 German silver, monel metal, and ordinary tinsel.

I prefer to employ these soft metals in the form of thin, narrow ribbons so that their physical flexibility and shape will permit slipping. over the surface to be cleaned, without scoring the surface, except under great pressure which may be easily avoided in ractice.

uch metals are non-rusting, and for this reason and also because of their softness, they may be used in the form of metal wool, which may be like steel wool in size, but which will be freefrom the biting, cutting quality, characteristic of steel wool.

The above and other features of my invention will be more readily understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is aperspective view of a cake of I0 soap illustrating one embodiment of my invention;

gig@ is a section on the line 2 2, Fig. l;

an f

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a cake of 85 soap embodying a modification of my -invention.

In Figs. l and 2, the cake is shown as comprising ordinary soap, 1, which may be formed in a cake of any desired size and 4.0 shape and which has embedded and extending to the surface-thereof, metal ribbons, 2. The width of the ribbon may be, sayr eight to twelve times its thickness and, say, 1/ to 1 e, of an inch widaby, say, 1/500 to 1/0 A5 of an inch thick. Such material, especially when made from relatively soft metal such as tinsel, will afford a surface well adapted for washing and mild scrubbing of surfaces to be cleaned, and a satisfactory amount of 5o such surface can be afforded by a relatively small amount ofthe ribbon. The advantage of this is that as the soap wears down, lit does not become masked by the ribbon as it is uncovered by the dissolving soap. The layer of free ribbon grows thicker, of course, but the soap remains fairly accessible to the end.

An important point is that the thinner the cake of soap becomes, the more effectively the ribbon protects it from being broken up and wasted.

In the form shown in Fig. 3, the relatively soft non-ferrous metal is su posed to be in the form of metal wool, v3. t will be noted as to this material, that it is very stringy and yielding, that the raw edges characteristie of metal wool are of soft material, and that the only backing for the wool is the relatively yieldable material of the soap. Consequently, when such a cake of soap is rubbed on the surface to be cleaned, the soft metal wool cannot attack the surface being cleaned, except under great pressure. The material being more. or less hair-like and springy, yields under pressure until it comes in contact with the cake of soap. Thereupon, er pressure, the wool will sink into the face of the soap. Consequently, soft metal wool employed in this relation is not usable for purposes which could be served by steel wool. For` this very reason, ithas its own special advantages for use on surfaces that would be injured by steel wool.

I am aware that it has been proposed to embed carborundum, steel wool and other abrasives in a cake of soap and more specifically that it has been proposed to embed steel wool in a cake of soap having a woolen fabric backing to prevent the steel wool from injuring the hand. In the latter case, the steel wool is employed for its remarkable abrasive quality which is. of course, useful for certain purposes and which is the cause of employment of the woolen cloth backing to protect the hand; also there has been suggestion that crystalline metals such as zinc, or even certain non-ferrous alloys, might be of sufficiently abrasive to be used as a substitute for the steel wool. It will be evident, however, that my invention depends upon using relatively soft metals in extremely flexible forms for the purpose and with the result of avoiding abrasion or scoring of the surfaces to be cleaned and rendering quite unnecessary the if attempt is made to apply still great- Woolen cloth backing for protection of the mass of thin, flexible hand. The relatively soft metals may be in soft tinsel-like metal.

the forni of metal wool, as shown in Fig. 3, 3. article of manufacture, comprising 15 or tinsel-like, in the form of thin-rolled metal a cake of soap havino throughout the mass ribboln. and extending through the surface thereof, a

I c aim:

Wadded mass of rolled relatively soft tinsell. An article of manufacture, comprising like metal in ribbon form. a cake of soap having embedded therein a Signed at New York, in the county of New 2o mass of thin, flexible strips of relatively soft,

York, and State of New York, this 7th day non-abrasive metal.

v of October, A. D. 1925. 2. An article of manufacture, comprising a cake of soap having embedded therein a CROSBY FIELD.

ribbons of relatively 

